1. Field of the Invention
Our present invention relates to a device capable of opening relatively flexible, folded newspapers and advertising publications to enable the insertion of additional pages or sections.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Newspaper sections and advertising tabloids generally consist of a plurality of flat, identically-sized sheets of paper, wherein the sheets are folded within the next contiguous sheet such that a common centerfold is produced. However, often additional pages, flyers or other materials must be inserted within the section subsequent to the original assembly of the section. In some cases, not all of the sheets intended to be placed within the section are printed at the same time. In other cases, advertising flyers and smaller inserts are printed at a different location and must be placed within the section as soon as the latter is printed. In the past, these inserts have typically been stuffed into a newspaper section by hand. However, this operation is troublesome, labor intensive and time-consuming, causing the price of the final product to increase accordingly.
One apparatus which has attempted to overcome these difficulties is of the type illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,627,302, issued to Lyle Dutro. The apparatus comprises a supporting bed adapted to receive the newspaper sections from a supply section. Each section is pushed individually along the bed on a horizontal axis by a pusher peg. A rotating sucker wheel overlying the bed is designed to lift the top half of the section and, while the section continues to advance, the sucker wheel then releases the top half of the section onto a supporting shelf immediately downstream of the sucker wheel. As the section continues to advance on the bed, additional pages can be inserted below the overhanging shelf in the opened section while the upper half of the section travels on the top surface of the shelf.
In particular, the rotating sucker wheel is positioned to engage a leading corner of the newspaper section and employs a subatmospheric pressure source to lift a free edge of the section. Because a large newspaper section is folded twice, with a common centerfold between the pages and also a second, subsequent fold perpendicular to the centerfold, the sucker wheel lifts the section on a free corner of the centerfold at a position remote from the second fold. As a result, the sucker wheel opens the section to its center and drops the top half of the section on the shelf as the section continues to advance. However, where the section comprises a smaller tabloid or "shopper" type publication, the sucker wheel cannot perform satisfactorily. These type of publications have only one fold, and consequently the sucker wheel is functional to lift only the top page of the section.